Nov. 18, 2013

Rights Leaders Fight for Obama Justice Nominee
By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Civil rights leaders, still shell-shocked over the GOP’s U. S. Senate rejection of Rep. Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are now expressing vehement support for former NAACP Legal Defense lawyer Debo P. Adegbile, nominated by President Obama as the next assistant attorney general for civil rights.

“Debo Adegbile is one of the preeminent civil rights litigators of his generation and a bipartisan consensus builder. His experience as the two-time defender of the Voting Rights Act in the Supreme Court puts him in a class of his own when it comes to understanding the application and enforcement of complex civil rights issues,” says Wade Henderson, president/CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, in a statement. “Add that to his stellar career over ten years at the nation’s leading civil rights law firm – the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund – as well as his work in the Senate and in the private sector, and it becomes clear that Adegbile’s skill set, talents, and experience make him the perfect choice to head the Civil Rights Division.”

Henderson was among several civil rights leaders on a press call last week to push their support for Adegbile, who is currently senior counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a position he has held since July 2013. His nomination follows a major disappointment Oct. 31 when the Obama nomination of 30-year Democrat Congressman Mel Watt (D-N.C.) to head the FHFA was rejected by the Republican members of the Senate who refused to support advancing the nomination to a vote. The Senate's vote of  56-42 to proceed was four votes short of the 60 needed to filibuster-proof threshold needed to advance the nomination to a final vote. 

Watt, a Yale Law School graduate, specializes in corporate and real estate law and is a member of the House Committees on Financial Services and the Judiciary. The GOP senators’ refusal to give enough votes to even forward his nomination to a final vote hints at the possible battle ahead for other qualified Obama nominees.

“I am very disappointed that today the Senate failed to move forward with the vote of confirmation for Rep. Mel Watt,” said CBC Chair Marsha Fudge. “At a time where American families are still recovering from the effect of the mortgage crisis, Rep. Watt’s leadership of this agency would be critical to restoring the integrity of the housing finance system and return homeownership in this country as a key to building wealth.”

The White House and the Congressional Black Caucus have both called on the Senate to reconsider Watt’s nomination. Meanwhile, the political rejection of Watts has placed rights leaders on notice as they go to bat for the 46-year-old Adegbile.

“As we navigate the new Civil Rights-era, Debo offers precisely the type of leadership necessary,” says Fudge in a statement. “From reforming America’s criminal justice system to expanding equality for all Americans, Debo has the civil rights experience and expertise needed to head the Division. Debo’s integrity, professionalism and respectable reputation as a legal practitioner and litigator are evidence that he is the right person for this incredibly important role…Members of the Congressional Black Caucus strongly support President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile and encourage our colleagues in the Senate to confirm him for this position without delay.”

During his 10-year career at the LDF, Adegbile served as acting president and director-counsel, director of litigation, and special counsel. Having twice defended the Voting Rights Act before the U. S. Supreme Court, civil rights leaders are counting on his legal acumen to continually deal with the voting rights issue after the important Pre-clearance Clause was gutted early this year. Other hot civil rights issues are stand your ground, police profiling, and economic justice.

The White House has forwarded Adegbile's nomination to the Senate. He would succeed Thomas E. Perez, who resigned.

“Debo has worked tirelessly to ensure that our nation lives up to its promise of equality for all Americans,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, NAACP-LDEF president and director-counsel. “He is highly respected as one of the Nation’s leading civil rights attorneys.”